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Shawn Williams will play in his 34th game of the 2013-14 season tonight in the SMU-Cal quarterfinal at Moody Coliseum. Williams graduated in May 2013 with a degree in sociology and currently is taking graduate courses at SMU.

The No. 1-seeded SMU Mustangs (25-9) will play the No. 2 seed California Golden Bears (21-13) for the chance to advance to the Final Four and Madison Square Garden in the 2014 National Invitation Tournament (NIT). The Mustangs take the home court advantage at 8 p.m. CT Wednesday, March 26 in Moody Coliseum. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2.

The quarterfinal matchup will see the SMU men’s team break its overall attendance record for a season – 101,296 during the 1984-85 season. SMU enters the contest at 100,374 fans for the 18 home games in the 2013-14 campaign. SMU is 2-2 all-time in the NIT, including this year’s victories over UC Irvine (68-54 March 19) and LSU (80-67 March 24).

SMU’s 25 wins on the season ties for third most in program history, and the most since the Mustangs recorded 28 wins in 1987-88. The Mustangs are 17-1 at home this season, including 11-1 in the renovated Moody Coliseum since Jan. 4 – the most home victories in program history.

In addition, the team finished with 12 conference wins for the first time since its 12 Southwest Conference wins in the 1992-93 season. The Mustangs’ third-place conference finish was the program’s best record since finishing third in the WAC in 2002-03.

On Thursday, March 20, Head Coach Larry Brown was selected one of five finalists for the 2014 Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year, presented by the Atlanta Sports Council. Brown has also been named one of 10 finalists for the Henry Iba National Coach of the Year award and one of three finalists for the Jewish Coaches Association National Coach of the Year award. In his second season on the Hilltop, Brown and the Mustangs have posted the top NCAA RPI turnaround (among teams in the top 100) from 2012-13 to 2013-14, improving their mark 160 spots from 213 a year ago to 53 as of Monday, March 17.

The return of “Moody magic” has left Dallas glowing with Mustang pride. Take a look at how SMU’s neighbors in North Texas and beyond are showing their spirit in this new video, produced by SMU News’ Myles Taylor with voiceover by John Gibson.

Hundreds of Dallas’ leading public servants, including Mayor Mike Rawlings and DISD Superintendent Mike Miles, joined emerging leaders at SMU on Thursday, Feb. 6 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Mayor J. Erik Jonsson’s citizen-led “Goals for Dallas.”

Jonsson, a founder of Texas Instruments, became mayor of Dallas in 1964, shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Already a strong advocate for education, he worked to improve morale and the image of the city throughout his term.

Jonsson’s “Goals for Dallas” initiative spurred the construction of DFW Airport, the Dallas Convention Center, the New Museum of Fine Arts and Dallas City Hall. The program helped establish public school kindergartens, citywide family planning, the University of Texas at Dallas, several branch libraries and neighborhood parks.